Aimeé
Once again, gender essentialist tweets have taken over the Internet. This one comes from writer and bestselling author Jess McHugh, who has some very strong opinions about what a man should and should not read. Actually, she talks more about what kinds of books he displays than what he reads in a “warning signs in a man’s bookshelf” tweet that has since gone viral.
I have some books I’ve never read on my bookshelf, doesn’t everyone? And one of them does happen to be Infinite Jest, so she is right about that being a warning sign—I’m terrible.
McHugh wrote:
Top 7 Warning Signs In a Man’s Bookshelf:
1. A Dog-eared copy of Infinite Jest
2. Too Much Hemingway
3. Any amount of Bukowski
4. AYN. RAND.
5. Goethe
6. “Lolita is my favorite book.”
7. “‘Fathers and Sons’ Is my favorite book.”
Okay, it would be a lie to say I’ve never judged someone based on their tastes in books or TV or movies. Human beings love discussing these sorts of cultural touchstones and discovering common interests around them. It’s also true that I’ve encountered guys who want to talk to me too much about Nabokov. However, this kind of tweet exists for one reason only: to get people to interact with you on Twitter so you can get attention.
Please, help, The Discourse is so exhausting. And dated.
Around 2014, at least a quarter of the posts on here were like this. There were whole articles. People couldn’t get enough of it. https://t.co/bheHptnP4Z
— Osita Nwanevu (@OsitaNwanevu) August 24, 2020
There were a surprising number of people who seemed to agree with McHugh and joined in with more items for the list. But the tide is turning on these “men read like this and women read like this” type of commentary. They’re reductive, enforce a weird binary, and probably say more about who you’re dating than about huge swathes of the population.
They are fun to mock though, which is what a lot of folks did. If you can’t laugh at some of these tweets, that’s a massive red flag:
1.
LADIES, if you go home with him and his bookshelf looks like this, that’s a RED FLAG 🚩🚩🚩🚩 pic.twitter.com/hPjDUmTflx
— juliet (@wliltoldeo) August 24, 2020
2.
Top seven warning signs on a man’s bookshelf: pic.twitter.com/hUOm0hqMM2
— Amos Pearson’s Moose Farm (@Frustrated_Fan) August 24, 2020
3.
I think the worst thing a guy can have on his bookshelf is the novel coronavirus
— tedium and woe jerk (@rajandelman) August 24, 2020
4.
Warning Signs In a Man’s Bookshelf:
1. dog eared copy of Goodnight Moon
2. Green Eggs and Ham “made me a less picky eater”
3. ANYTHING BY RICHARD SCARRY
4. C*pt*in *nderp*nts
5. “Where The Wild Things Are made me reimagine bed time”
6. Cat In The Hat— Dank Meme Themed 36th Birthday Party (@ByYourLogic) August 24, 2020
5.
7 red flags on a mans bookshelf:
1) okay kinda sus that there’s no books
2) wait it’s really all funko pops?
3) and you have how many shelves like this?
4)oh god it’s all funko pops
5) I have to go
6) this is too many funko pops
7) Infinite Jest— 121 (@anindividuation) August 24, 2020
6.
TOP 4 WARNING SIGNS ABT A MAN’S BOOKS!!
1. They love infinite jest. in fact, they own a copy
2. a copy of lolita with “NOTE TO SELF: DO THIS” written on the inside cover
3. owns a bookshelf instead of just keeping their books in a pile on the floor
4. Second copy of infinite jest— g0m (@g0m) August 24, 2020
7.
Top 7 Warning Signs In a Man’s Bookshelf:
1. A Dog-eared copy of Infinite Jest
2. You pull on it
3. The bookshelf spins around
4. AYN. RAND.
5. This is where they’ve been keeping her
6. She’s hooked up to some kind of machine
7. She asks what the current interest rates are.— Jesse Brenneman (@Jesse_Brenneman) August 24, 2020
8.
I will only date a man whose bookshelf looks like this pic.twitter.com/s46KZ8PdgB
— jacob wohl tulpa bf 👁️⃤ (@borrachacansada) August 25, 2020
9.
Top 7 Warning Signs in a Man’s Bookshelf:
1. Park that car
2. Drop that phone
3. Sleep on the floor
4. Dream about me
5. Park that car
6. Drop that phone
7. Sleep on the floor— Larry Fitzmaurice (@lfitzmaurice) August 24, 2020
10.
Phew! Glad to hear I don’t have to be worried about my boyfriend 🙂 pic.twitter.com/GszVz8eEWz
— Hesse, PhD in Worm Studies (@ZeroSuitCamus) August 24, 2020
11.
warning signs on a man’s bookshelf: pic.twitter.com/swA3JfevgB
— Dave Itzkoff (@ditzkoff) August 24, 2020
12.
I can’t believe today’s discourse has ignored the fact that the #1 red flag on a bookshelf is when you pull on one of the books out, and the whole shelf slides to the side, revealing a secret dungeon.
— Josh Gondelman (@joshgondelman) August 24, 2020
13.
7 red flags on a man’s bookshelf: pic.twitter.com/XeCU1a0xoo
— Felix Guattari “Professor” Nipples (@BasedUtena) August 24, 2020
14.
If a man has a bookshelf thats a red flag for me. Not into reading
— atrophy wife 🎀 (@zuza_real) August 24, 2020
15.
Real Red Flags On A Dude’s Bookshelf
1. Freakonomics
2. Guns Germs & Steel
3. The Blank Slate
4. ANY Malcolm Gladwell
5. The Bell Curve
6. The Screwtape Letters
7. The God Delusion— Hieronymus Burps 🥦💥 and 68 others (@hieronymus_burp) August 24, 2020
16.
I saw Goosebumps on a man’s shelf and high-tailed it out of there because I got frikkin scared!
— rob (@catholicdad420) August 24, 2020
17.
Hitting my head with a hammer so I can become illiterate for all the beautiful, amazing Queen’s👸out there
— Jokerfied CJ (@pandafresh) August 24, 2020
